The term "chub" identifies a type of sausage having a stubby appearance. For example, a chub typically is from about 10 to 15 centimeters long and about 4 to 6 centimeters in diameter.
A typical stuffing machine for producing chub size products operates at the rate of about 40 to 120 chubs per minute depending in part on the size of the chub. These machines operate automatically in that they utilize casing in the form of a shirred stick so that a plurality of chubs can be made using the casing contained in a single stick.
The term "shirred stick" is well known in the stuffing art and describes a hollow casing article composed of a relatively long length of casing shirred and longitudinally compacted to a short length. For example, a shirred stick 50 centimeters long may contain upwards of 50 meters or more of casing. After a shirred stick is located on a stuffing horn the machine can operate automatically until the supply of casing is exhausted.
In a typical stuffing operation a shirred stick is loaded on to a stuffing horn and a pump is started for forcing the food product to be stuffed through the stuffing horn under pressure. The food product which discharges from the horn enters and draws forward casing from the shirred stick to stuff the casing. After a desired length is stuffed, the pump is stopped and a closure is applied, usually a metal clip, to form an end of the chub. The pump is then restarted to stuff another length of casing. Stuffing and closing in this fashion continues until a string of chubs is formed. After forming a string composed of a limited number of say five or six chubs, a cord or plastic loop is attached along with the last clip of the string and the string is severed from the shirred stick. The cord or plastic loop is used to hang the string for processing to cook or smoke the chubs. After processing, the casing is removed and the chubs are individually packaged in a suitable packaging, such as a shrink wrap, for retail sale.
The need to stop and then restart the pump mechanism each time a clip is applied leads to excessive wear on the pump drive. It also prolongs the time it takes to stuff the length of casing contained in a shirred stick.
It is of course, necessary to stop stuffing in order to load a shirred stick onto the stuffing horn so the machine is idle while a new supply of casing is loaded. Stuffing systems have been developed which utilize a plurality of stuffing horns so that while a first horn is being utilized for stuffing, a second horn can be loaded with casing and prepared for movement into a stuffing position as soon as the supply of casing on the first horn is exhausted. While such multihorn systems reduce the idle time of the machine they do not reduce the time it takes to stuff the length of casing contained in a shirred stick. In this respect, the pump of the machine still is cycled on and off to apply clips.